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| On a seafood streak ;) |
When I was in university, I had a close shave with a little town call La Rochelle. It's a seaport in western France, approximately 3 hours away from Paris. I seriously contemplated pursuing a Masters degree with the local university having met the professors and fellow students, but it was not to be as I wasn't willing to step away from my comfort zone.
Bouillabaisse reminds me very much of La Rochelle, though it's originated from Marseille, the largest seaport in France. Just like any fishing community, there's always a staple stew filled with catch of the day that wins every one's heart. As with this recipe, the seafood used are flexible and the ones listed are what I have from the fresh market today. Oh and you must try making the rouille too, the stew will not be complete without it :) In fact, I love rouille so much that it'll be my condiment for bread dip and salad for the rest of the week!
I wonder what and where would I be if I had enough courage and had chosen La Rochelle instead. Will I even be blogging today? :)
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| Catch of the day :) |
Ingredients
- 10 mussels
- 6 scallops
- 6 tiger prawns, peeled and deveined
- 2 green crabs, cleaned and cut into 4 pieces each
- 1 red snapper, deboned and cut in cubes
- 2 cups fish stock (preferably homemade)
- 5 ripe tomatoes, deseeded and cubed
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
- 1 leek, sliced
- 1 red chili, deseeded and chopped
- 10 saffron threads
- 1 tbs parsley, chopped
Directions
- Heat 3 tablespoon of olive oil in a cast iron pot on medium heat
- Add onion, fennel, leek and chili, cook for 5 minutes until soften
- At the mean time, infuse saffron with a tablespoon of boiling water and set aside
- Add tomatoes, saffron threads with liquid, fish stock and bring to boil
- Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer for 10 minutes
- Add mussels, prawns, scallops, crabs and snapper to the broth
- Simmer for another 2 minutes
- Sprinkle parsley over it and serve with rouille and croutons (or fresh bread)
Rouille
Ingredients
- 2 red bell peppers, slice in halves
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 red chili, deseeded
- 1 slice white bread, tear in crumbs
- 2 tsb olive oil
Directions
- Grill bell peppers skin side-up on a hot grill until blackened
- Quickly place it in a Ziploc bag and seal
- Once bell peppers are cool, the skin will loosen a little to peel off
- Add the peeled bell peppers, garlic and red chili in a grinder
- Give it a few pulse and slowly add in olive oil and bread crumbs
- Pulse it a little more until it's in a paste form
